Tuesday, June 30, 2020

The robots that can cook and serve your food

The technology that might one day transform our eating out experience.

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Is the hydrogen tech 'revolution' hope or hype?

Can hydrogen - a relatively clean source of fuel - help power the economy of the future?

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Facebook bans 'violent' Boogaloo-linked network

It said the group seeks violence and is loosely affiliated with the far-right Boogaloo movement

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Facebook bans ‘violent network’ of far-right boogaloo accounts

Facebook took action to remove a network of accounts Tuesday related to the “boogaloo” movement, a firearm-obsessed anti-government ideology that focuses on preparing for and potentially inciting a U.S. civil war.

“As part of today’s action, we are designating a violent US-based anti-government network under our Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy and disrupting it on our services,” Facebook wrote in the announcement. “As a result, this violent network is banned from having a presence on our platform and we will remove content praising, supporting or representing it.”

In its announcement, the company made a distinction between “the broader and loosely-affiliated boogaloo movement” and the violent group of accounts it identified and we’ve asked Facebook to clarify how or if it will distinguish between the two moving forward.

On Tuesday, Facebook removed 220 Facebook accounts, 28 pages 106 groups and 95 Instagram accounts related to the network it identified within the boogaloo movement. Facebook notes that it has been monitoring boogaloo content since 2019, but previously only removed the content when it posed a “credible” threat of offline violence.

The company cited real-world violence with ties to the boogaloo movement in its decision to more aggressively identify and remove this kind of content. Earlier this month, an Air Force sergeant found with symbols connected to the boogaloo movement was charged with murder for killing a federal security officer during protests in Oakland.

“… Officials have identified violent adherents to the movement as those responsible for several attacks over the past few months,” the company wrote in its blog post. “These acts of real-world violence and our investigations into them are what led us to identify and designate this distinct network.”

In an April report, the watchdog group Tech Transparency Project detailed how extremists committed to the boogaloo movement “[exchange] detailed information and tactics on how to organize and execute a revolt against American authorities” in Facebook groups, some private. Boogaloo groups appear to have flourished on the platform in the early days of the pandemic, with politicized state lockdowns, viral misinformation and general uncertainty fueling fresh interest in far-right extremism.

As the Tech Transparency Project report explains, the boogaloo movement initially used the cover of humor, memes and satire to disguise an underlying layer of real-world violent intent. Boogaloo groups have a mix of members with varying levels of commitment to real-world violence and race-based hate, but organizations studying extremism have identified overlap between boogaloo supporters and white supremacist groups.

Facebook’s action against the boogaloo movement come the same day that Democratic senators wrote a letter to the company demanding accountability for its role in amplifying white supremacy and other forms of far-right extremism. In the letter, addressed to Mark Zuckerberg, Lawmakers cited activity by members of boogaloo groups as part of Facebook’s “failure to address the hate spreading on its platform.”



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What 👁👄👁.fm means for Silicon Valley

In 36 hours, a diverse group of young entrepreneurs and technologists raised more than $200,000 for three charities supporting people of color and the LGBTQ community: The Okra ProjectThe Innocence Project and The Loveland Foundation.

How did they do it? Why did they do it?

The answers are important to understanding the future of tech. This is the first real example of how and why Gen Z will build companies. 👁👄👁.fm and the people behind it reflect broader trends in youth culture.

VCs should take note. These are the people who will build the next Facebook.

Everyone else should rejoice. Young technologists are building a new future on a new set of values. Their values are informed by the first-hand experience of growing up with the perverse incentives of yesterday’s social media and a genuine desire to create a better world — online and off.

It all began on Thursday night when a group of friends started riffing on a TikTok meme. In today’s world, language is constantly evolving — 👁👄👁 emerged as a particular spin on the phrase: “It is what it is.” Josh Constine explains, “👁👄👁 means you feel helpless amidst the chaotic realities unfolding around us, but there is no escape.”

The group of friends added the emojis to their Twitter handles and began tweeting about 👁👄👁.fm, a nonexistent invite-only social app. Unexpectedly, the trend started gaining momentum and the inside joke got out of hand. Conversations erupted on the group’s Discord server as they discussed what to do next. Could they channel the hype into impact?

Vernon Coleman, founder of synchronous social app Realtime and “Head of Hype” at 👁👄👁.fm reflected, “What started as a meme quickly gained steam! We realized the opportunity and felt that we had a responsibility to convert the momentum for social good. I think it’s amazing what can happen when skilled creatives get together and collaborate in real-time.”

Where should the team focus their efforts? The answer was clear. The group wrote in a post on Friday, ” … we didn’t have to think too hard: In this moment, there’s pretty much no greater issue to amplify than the systemic racism and anti-Blackness much of the world is only beginning to wake up to.”

Since Thursday, the group accumulated over 20,000 email sign-ups, more than 11,000 Twitter followers and raised over $200,000 in donations.

Cynics have called it a “well-executed marketing campaign” or suggested that it was an ill-intentioned prank. Not everything went perfectly, and the team has acknowledged the missteps. But, we shouldn’t trivialize or marginalize what they accomplished and why they did it.

In one fell swoop, the team chastised Silicon Valley’s use of exclusivity as a marketing tactic, trolled thirsty VCs for their desire to always be first on the next big thing, deftly leveraged the virality of Twitter to build awareness and channeled that awareness into dollars that will have a real impact on groups too often overlooked.

This group of 60 young tech leaders took the tools of the titans into their hands to make an impact while making a statement.

They weren’t the most connected people on Twitter. Many of the team have follower counts in the hundreds, not the hundreds of thousands. But, they understand the tools as well as the tech elite.

This is the latest in a string of movements created by Gen Z leaders and activists. Gen Z is able to amplify their voice — even on platforms, like Twitter and Facebook, considered the domain of millennials and Gen X.

We first saw this with the Parkland school shooting when high school students took over Twitter then Facebook then cable news to add a voice of reason to a gun debate that had devolved into partisan talking points.

Over the last three years, I’ve spent dozens of hours talking with young users and product builders — this has been an important part of my job as the chief product officer at Tinder, a product director on Facebook’s Youth team and an angel investor. Many of the sentiments expressed by the 👁👄👁.fm team reflect broader feelings in Gen Z:

Gen Z is tired of a boomer generation that seems more focused on reaping their last bit from the world than passing it on in better shape.

Gen Z is fed up with exclusive clubs and virtual velvet ropes. The latest example is Clubhouse, an invite-only social app that raised at a $100 million valuation despite being only a few months old and catering to only a few thousand users — among them Oprah and Kevin Hart.

For tech insiders, Clubhouse is the place to be. For Gen Z outsiders, it’s the latest example of Black celebrity being used to make predominantly white founders and investors rich.

Gen Z entrepreneurs and tech leaders are tired of a tech industry that talks about inclusivity, but then uses exclusivity as a marketing ploy. This has been a practice for more than a decade. It started with Gmail, the first app to use private invites at scale — a tactic widely copied.

Today, Silicon Valley insiders are clamoring for invites to HEY, a recently released email app that notoriously charges for two- and three-letter email addresses ($999 per year for a two-letter address and $375 for a three-letter address). The short name up-charge is a cynical money-making scheme from a company whose founders, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, evangelize a fairer and more empathetic approach to technology. Critics have pointed out that their business model unfairly — and likely unintentionally — targets ethnic groups who have a tradition of shorter names.

Finally, Gen Z is tired of a tech industry that talks about diversity, but doesn’t practice it. Black and Hispanic people continue to be underrepresented at major tech companies, particularly at the leadership level. This underrepresentation is even worse for entrepreneurs. Just 1% of venture-backed founders are Black.

Silicon Valley isn’t trying hard enough.

“We hear repeatedly that there’s a pipeline problem in tech VC and employment … that’s bullshit. We were able to bring together different age groups, cultural backgrounds, skills, genders and geographies … all based on a random selection process of people putting a meme in their profile … the Valley should realize that you can literally throw darts and get results,” said Coleman. “If the industry is about that action imagine the magic we’d all create together.”

The story of 👁👄👁.fm highlights an important truth. If the tech industry doesn’t create the future Gen Z wants, there’s no need to worry. They’ll create it for themselves.

Will you help them?

Make the hire. Send the wire. — Tiffani Ashley Bell, founding executive director at The Human Utility.

The team behind 👁👄👁.fm supports:

  • The Okra Project — a collective that seeks to address the global crisis faced by Black trans people by bringing home-cooked, healthy and culturally specific meals and resources to Black trans people wherever we can reach them.
  • The Innocence Project — its mission is to free the staggering number of innocent people who remain incarcerated, and to bring reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment — a plight that disproportionately affects people of color.
  • The Loveland Foundation — makes it possible for Black women and girls nationally to receive therapy support. Black women and girls deserve access to healing, and that healing will impact generations.


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With advertiser boycott growing, lawmakers press Facebook on white supremacy

In a new letter to Mark Zuckerberg, three Democratic lawmakers pressed the Facebook chief executive for accountability on his company’s role in amplifying white supremacy and allowing violent extremists, like those in “boogaloo” groups, to organize on its platform.

Citing the “long-overdue” national reckoning around racial injustice, Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) wrote to Zuckerberg in an effort to highlight the rift Facebook’s stated policies and its track record.

“The United States is going through a long-overdue examination of the systemic racism prevalent in our society. Americans of all races, ages, and backgrounds have bravely taken to the streets to demand equal justice for all,” the senators wrote.

“While Facebook has attempted to publicly align itself with this movement, its failure to address the hate spreading on its platform reveals significant gaps between Facebook’s professed commitment to racial justice and the company’s actions and business interests.”

The letter demands answers to a number of questions, some of which are relatively superficial asks for further commitments from Facebook to enforce its existing rules. But a few hit on something more interesting, calling on Zuckerberg to name the Facebook employee whose job explicitly addresses the spread white supremacy on the platform and asking the company to elaborate on the role that Joel Kaplan, Vice President of Global Public Policy and Facebook’s most prominent conservative voice, played in shaping the company’s approach to extremist content.

The senators also ask if Kaplan influenced Facebook’s puzzling decision to include The Daily Caller, the right-wing new site co-created by Tucker Carlson and linked to white supremacists, as a partner in its fact-checking program.

The senators’ final question includes a thinly-veiled threat to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law protecting platforms from legal liability for user generated content. Last month, President Trump launched his own attack against the vital legal shield, which makes internet businesses possible and also undergirds the modern social internet as we know it.

The letter from lawmakers come as Facebook faces a fresh wave of scrutiny around its platform policies from the #StopHateforProfit campaign. Launched by a group of civil rights organizations like the Anti-Defamation League, Color of Change and the NAACP, the Facebook advertising boycott has swelled to encompass a surprising array of huge mainstream brands including Coca-Cola, Best Buy, Ford and Verizon. Other brands on board include Adidas, Ben & Jerry’s, Reebok, REI, Patagonia and Vans.

While the unlikely mix of companies likely represents a similarly heterogenous mixture of motivations for temporarily suspending their Facebook ad spending, the initiative does make specific policy demands. On its webpage, the campaign advocates for some specific product changes, calling on Facebook to remove private groups centered on white supremacy and violent conspiracies, disable its recommendation engine for more hate and conspiracy groups and to hire a “C-suite level executive” who specializes in civil rights.



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Facebook: Insurance firm Aviva latest to join ad boycott

London-based Aviva says it is reassessing its future brand presence on the social network.

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Airbus to cut 15,000 jobs amid coronavirus fallout

The aerospace firm says 1,700 of the job cuts will fall at its UK plants.

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Huawei: Ministers signal switch in policy over 5G policy

Digital secretary says US sanctions are "likely to have an impact on the viability" of using firm's kit.

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Google stops storing photos from WhatsApp and Instagram

The Google Photos app will no longer automatically store images and videos from social media apps.

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10 Best Anime Sites to Watch Anime Online in 2020

10 Best Anime Sites to Watch Anime Online in 2020

Searching for websites to watch endless hours of anime videos for free? In this article, we have shared some of the popular websites which let’s you watch anime videos. So, let’s check out the list of best Anime sites to watch videos and movies.

Not many will know, but Anime is actually different from the cartoon. It’s a word of French origin that means animated or alive. Animes are always known for their animations and they are different compared to the western caroons.

Animes are less popular these days, but still, it’s gaining some fans in American and European countries. Actually, there’s a shortage of Anime sites on the internet due to sharing restrictions.

10 Best Anime Sites to Watch Anime Online in 2020

Anyways, in this article, we are going to share some of the best Anime sites which you can visit in your spare time. In these sites, you can watch endless hours of anime videos for free. So, let’s check out some of the best sites to watch anime videos.

1. GoGoAnime

GoGoAnime
GoGoAnime

If you are searching for a totally free website to watch online anime shows, then GoGoanime might be the best site to visit. Guess what? every movie and TV show were uploaded with English subtitles. Not only that, but the site also has lots of dubbed TV Series and Movies.

2. KissAnime

KissAnime
KissAnime

This is another best Anime streaming site on the list which lets you watch English subbed and dubbed anime shows. You can watch videos in high-definition quality without creating an account. The user-interface of the site is pretty clean and well organized. However, due to certain restrictions, the site keeps getting offline more than often.

3. Hulu

Hulu
Hulu

This is a video-on-demand service that offers a huge catalog of exclusive programs like Hulu originals and much more. It’s basically a streaming service from where you can watch a cartoon, anime, and regional videos.

4. 9Anime

9Anime
9Anime

This is a free website for users looking to watch and download anime episodes. Moreover, this site offers a wide list of anime TV series and movies in English sub or dub. And not only that even this site has an extraordinary feature that will simply blow your mind, yes, to access this site users won’t have to sign up.

5. Animestreams

Animestreams 
Animestreams

Well, AnimeStreams is known for its instinctive design. The content of the site is easy to navigate and which makes the site more user-friendly. If we talk about the content, you will find lots of popular Anime TV Shows like Sinchan, Naruto, etc. The site is also free from ads.

6. Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll

It’s one of the popular site on the list from where you can watch endless hours of anime content. Guess what? Crunchyroll has over 25,000 episodes and 15,000 hours of the latest anime series. The site adapts with your viewing habits to show you relevant content. So, it’s another best site to watch anime videos in 2020.

7. AnimeHeaven

AnimeHeaven
AnimeHeaven

The site is much like its name – the heaven for anime lovers. This is a well-known video streaming site from where you can watch endless hours of anime series and movies. Apart from that, the site also has anime series & movies available in dubbed and subbed versions.

8. AnimeUltima

Anime ultima
Anime ultima

This is one of the most popular anime video streaming sites ever visited by fans of animes. As it not only offer complete anime series from original versions to dubbed ones but also offers informative contents like polls, forums, and events.

9. Gaze Anime

Gaze Anime
Gaze Anime

This website is one of the best platforms for watching English dubbed anime for free and without any registration. Along with the English dubbed anime series this site also offers its awesome merchandise through its online store and recommends anime by its blog.

10. Chia-Anime

Chia-Anime
Chia-Anime

This is website is also one of the best websites for watching anime series, listening to anime soundtracks, and reading manga in various genres. So, it’s another best anime site 2020 that you can visit right now.

So, what do you think about this article in which we have listed all the best websites to watch anime series and read the manga? Simply share all your views and thoughts in the comment section below.

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Dr Disrespect: The mystery surrounding his Twitch ban

He signed an exclusive streaming deal with Twitch earlier this year. So what happened?

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Facebook says it will prioritize original reporting and ‘transparent authorship’ in the News Feed

Facebook announced this morning that stories with original reporting will get a boost in the News Feed, while publications that don’t clearly credit their editorial staff will be demoted.

The change comes as a number of high-profile companies have said that they will pull their advertising from Facebook as part of the #StopHateforProfit campaign, organized by civil rights groups as a a way to pressure the social network to take stronger steps against hate speech and misinformation.

On Friday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will start labeling — but not removing — “newsworthy” content from politicians and other public figures that violates its content standards. (He also said that content threatening violence or suppressing voter participation will be removed even if it’s posted by a public figure.)

Today’s blog post from VP of Global News Partnerships Campbell Brown and Product Manager Jon Levin doesn’t mention the ad boycott, and it suggests that these changes were developed in consultation with news publishers and academics. But these certainly sound like concrete steps the company can point to as part of its efforts against misinformation.

What gets prioritized in the News Feed has long been a thorny issue for publishers, particularly after a major change in 2016 that prioritized content from friends over content from publishers.

“Most of the news stories people see in News Feed are from sources they or their friends follow, and that won’t change,” Brown and Levin wrote. “When multiple stories are shared by publishers and are available in a person’s News Feed, we will boost the more original one which will help it get more distribution.”

As for “transparent authorship,” Facebook will be looking for article bylines, or for a staff page on the publisher’s website. As Brown and Levin noted, “We’ve found that publishers who do not include this information often lack credibility to readers and produce content with clickbait or ad farms, all content people tell us they don’t want to see on Facebook.”

While these same like smart, straightforward changes (Google announced similar steps last fall), Brown and Levin also warned publishers not to expect “significant changes” in their Facebook traffic, since there are a “variety of signals” that go into how content gets ranked in the News Feed.

Also worth noting: These changes only apply to news content.



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15 Best Email Clients For Windows 10 (Latest 2020)

15 Best Email Clients For Windows 10 (Latest 2020)

Almost every professionals and business profiles rely upon the email to connect with customers. So, it won’t be wrong to say that even after the existence of such easy to use apps, emails are still used as the primary mode of communication in the corporate environment.

Normally, most of the email services available on the internet have its dedicated email client for windows. These email clients eliminate the need to access the web-based panel. Moreover, an email client for Windows has its own set of advantages.

For example, with a dedicated email client, you can manage multiple accounts from different email services through a single user interface. So, email clients end the hassle of installing updates every next day, switching accounts, opening a web browser, etc.

15 Best Email Clients For Windows 10 (Latest 2020)

In this article, we are going to discuss some of the best email clients for Windows 10. The great thing about these email clients is that users don’t need to pay anything for using them. So, let’s check out the 15 best free email client for windows.

1. Mail & Calendar

Mail & Calendar
Mail & Calendar

It is by far the most awesome and best free email client that you should use. The great thing about Mail & Calendar is that users no longer need to go anywhere to set up and get their inbox running. The great thing about the free email client is that it allows users to connect Yahoo, iCloud, Rediff, Gmail, and many other popular email services that support IMAP and POP.

2. Mailbird

Mailbird
Mailbird

It is a third party online email client that provides a wide range of features. The great thing about Mailbird is that its free to use and you can manage multiple email accounts. It doesn’t matter which email service you use, Mailbird covers everything. Not just that, but Mailbird also features a combined inbox which is known as ‘Unified Inbox’. The combined inbox comes with the dark theme and offers different background which users can set.

3. MailSpring

MailSpring
MailSpring

It is an open-source email client that is rich in features. The great thing about the powerful email client is that it supports IMAP and SMTP email provides. That means, the client covers Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, and a few other major email service providers. However, the free email client comes with some sort of limitation. You can’t connect more than four email accounts with MailSpring.

4. Thunderbird

Thunderbird
Thunderbird

If we talk about the features of Thunderbird, it has almost everything that you need to fulfill your email needs. The email client has chat support, quick filtering, activity manager, RSS reader, etc. It also got an automatic filter that can be used to clear out junk from your inbox. It supports almost every major email services like Outlook, Outbox, Gmail, etc.

5. eMClient

eMClient
eMClient

Well, if you are looking for a powerful and best email client for windows, then eMClient might be the best option for you. The interface of eMClient is beyond amazing, and it also houses a dark theme which looks fantastic. With eMClient, you can manage different email accounts, contacts, calendars, etc. Not just that, but eMClient also got the support of PGP encryption so you can send your emails securely.

6. Inky

Inky
Inky

It is another best email client for Windows 10 that you can use right now. The great thing about Inky is that it heavily focuses on security and business to keep emails safe from third parties. Guess what? Inky uses the end-to-end encryption with digital signatures to protect all incoming and outgoing emails. Another notable thing of Inky is its well-polished UX which not only looks clean, but it organizes all features in a better way.

7. Outlook

Outlook
Outlook

Well, OutLook serves as an all-in-one solution for all your email needs. It has everything that you need to effectively manage your email accounts. The email client for Windows also has a built-in calendar that can be used to mark important dates. So, OutLook is definitely the best email client that you can use on Windows 10.

8. Opera Mail

Opera Mail
Opera Mail

Well, Opera Mail offers users an easy way to manage different email accounts from a single place. Opera Mail has support for almost all major email services and its one of the best email clients that you can use today. However, the UI of Opera Mail is not much appealing and it chooses to go with the old school design.

9. Zimbra

Zimbra
Zimbra

The great thing about Zimbra is that it offers a great UI that looks appealing. Apart from that, Zimbra offers lots of features that you need to manage your email accounts. Another best thing about Zimbra is that it can work both online and offline.

10. Claws Mail

Claws Mail
Claws Mail

If you are looking for an email client that comes with a simple interface, then Claws Mail might be the best pick for you. The great thing about Claws Mail is that it shares a good old days interface just like Windows XP. Apart from that, Claws Mail offers every feature that you need to manage your emails. Not just that, but Claws Mail also got support for email threading and multiple email accounts.

11. Postbox

Postbox
Postbox

If you are searching for an email management tool for Windows 10 PC, then you need to give Postbox a try. The tool lets you manage all email accounts in one place. It has a pleasant user-interface and it lets you filter emails in real-time. The email client also lets you organize emails by tags.

12. Hiri

Hiri
Hiri

This email client is heavily used by the business users. Although the app is meant for business users, it can be used by home and regular users as well. The email client is made exclusively for Microsoft’s email ecosystem. That means, it only supports Outlook, Hotmail, Live, and MSN.

13. The Bat!

The Bat!
The Bat!

If you are searching for a desktop email client for Windows that is secure and protect your emails from third-parties, then The Bat! might be the best pick for you. Guess what? it allows users to manage multiple IMAP4, POP3, RSS and MAP accounts. Although the email client offers users lots of features, it’s hard to use because the user-interface looks complicated. Still, The Bat! is one of the best email clients for Windows 10 that you can use today.

14. TouchMail

TouchMail
TouchMail

It is one of the best and good looking email client available for Windows 10 operating system. The most noticeable thing of TouchMail is its interface which carries a Windows 8 look. If we talk about the email features, TouchMail supports almost all major email services like Microsoft, Outlook, Yahoo Mail, Gmail, etc.

So, these are the best email clients for Windows 10 which you can use today. These are the free email clients that you can use without paying anything. So, what’s your opinion on this? Share your views in the comment box below.

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